So many privileges lost by leaving the EU

I RECENTLY purchased some goods from an EU supplier I have used on previous occasions. Subsequent to the purchase the carrier DPD advised me the goods were subject to import duty and I had to pay £42 before delivery. At first I thought it was a scam but, no, it was a genuine charge, ‘tariff free’ does not mean duty free.

My wife and I hoped that as we grew older we could purchase a small property in Spain to escape the British winter. The Brexit result caused a massive devaluation of the pound, which has reduced the value of property we can afford to buy. The process of purchase as a non EU citizen is now more complicated and expensive. Having suffered a heart attack, and my wife cancer, the prospect of losing EHIC access meant the prohibitive cost of private medical insurance would have rendered the cost of living abroad too costly. Fortunately, a special scheme allowing access to Spanish healthcare has been agreed, but how robust will this agreement prove against the guaranteed right of EU citizens to EHIC? Pet passports are no longer valid, and we will be limited to three months stay any one winter. Thus the personal cost to me of losing EU citizenship is very real, as well as other rights and benefits available to EU citizens that are now lost. Against these very real losses, I can’t think of a single enhanced benefit or right gained as a UK citizen. Perhaps I should just be content with the rosy glow of enhanced sovereignty, knowing that future regulations, such as what labelling or packaging goods require, will be decided by a civil servant in Whitehall rather than Brussels.

Paul Thomas

Somerset